As the night crept upon the town of Everwood, a problem in the Harper household made itself known. That night, the house had one guestroom, and two guests.
"I'm not sleeping in the same bed as my dad!" Ephram yelled. Jig sighed. The two were in her room, Jig on the bed, Ephram pacing back and forth in front of her.
"Well would you rather sleep in the living room, Ephram?" she asked him. He sighed and looked at her.
"The couch gives me a backache…" he confessed. Jig nodded.
"Well then, shut the hell up," she told him. He chuckled slightly and sat down next to her on the bed.
"This is all my fault. If I hadn't gotten piss drunk I'd be at home now…" he said, leaning forward, resting his elbows on his knees. She looked at him, smiling sympathetically.
"I wish you could remember what you did last night. I'd like to know why you came here instead of going home," she said. He laughed slightly.
"Probably because you'd be nice about it. My dad would have gone nuts."
"Well, why didn't you go to Desi?" she asked him. He inhaled heavily and than exhaled.
"A number of reasons, I suppose. That house's security guards probably would not have let me in, and, well, she wouldn't understand like you would," he said, looking at her. She smiled and leaned on him a little.
"There is something I didn't tell you about last night. You asked me why you and I didn't love each other," Jig confessed. Ephram looked at her and then at the ground, shaking his head.
"I'm so sorry…" he said. She patted his back.
"No worries babe. After you asked me that, you yelled 'I love you Desi' at the ceiling," she told him and he laughed slightly.
"What are the chances of Desi having heard that?" he asked her.
"Hm. Slim to nil," she responded and he laughed and turned to her.
"Thanks, though, really. You're great," he told her. She shrugged.
"Well, I'm no Skug, but I think I do very well for myself," she said and he laughed.
"Skug has nothing against you Jig. You're the best friend I've ever had," he told her. She smiled.
"So far, you mean," she corrected him. He shook his head.
"Forever," he said. She smiled and leaned on him again.
"I'd say something right now, but we're being spied on," she said and they both looked at her door to see a small figure move away from the slight crack. They both laughed slightly and turned back to each other.
"Ein really hates your guts, Ephram," Jig informed him. He nodded.
"I know. It's mutual."
Ein moseyed down the hallway into the living room, and over to where the three older people in the house were gathered around a Monopoly board. Edna was unhappy with the way things were going, but Irv was happy as could be. Andy was beating them both. And he did it was a smile, too, like it was just a game, which it was, just not for Edna.
"You know, when I was a kid, I used to think this game was boring. Star would beat me time after time after time. I thought I was the worst player in the world. But I guess I'm pretty good at it, huh?" Andy asked, obviously not hearing the loud sound made by Edna's teeth grinding together. Irv cleared his throat and rolled the dice. He moved his spot onto one of Edna's properties.
"Oh look honey, I own you money. But, I'm fresh out, so I'll just sell one of my properties here, and there you go," he said handing it to her. Edna had been preoccupied staring angrily at Andy, but when Irv had the money ready for her she took it, and made sure Andy knew she took it. Ein jumped up onto Irv's armrest and Irv pet the creature slightly. Ein, sensing the tension coming from Edna, leapt onto the Monopoly board, picked Andy's piece in his mouth, and ran off.
With the three older occupants of the house after him, Ein bounded around the house, up the stairs, down the stairs, in the kitchen, down hallways, and over the Monopoly board a few times, making it impossible to tell what had been where and who owned what. By the time they caught him, Ein gave them the piece willing and went off in search of Jig. The three grown ups surveyed the damage done to their game. Irv was happy that it was over, not that he didn't enjoy seeing someone beat the player who had beaten him so often. Andy was disappointed, but not immensely so. And Edna, well, there are no words.
Ein found the love of his life in the guestroom with Ephram, putting new sheets on the bed. When they had a sheet on Ein jumped up and laid down on it.
"Ein!" Jig yelled. She picked him up and threw him onto the floor. She then smoothened the part he had been laying on. She and Ephram then placed the quilt on the bed and tucked it in at the appropriate spots. When they were done this time Ein again jumped onto the bed and laid down. Jig picked him up again, but instead of putting him on the floor, she kept him in her arms and stroked his back. Ein was happier in his love's arms then he ever could have been on the bed.
Early the next morning, at about three or four, Ephram lay awake in the bed he shared with his father. His eyes were wide open and he hands shook slightly. The loud and irregular snoring that resonated from within the soft palate of his father's nose had kept Ephram up all night. The living room would have been bliss.
When the clock in the guestroom struck four, and Ephram was still without sleep, he grabbed his pillow and stormed from the room. He made his way down the hall and to Jig's door. He didn't bother knocking, he just opened the door and walked in. For a moment he smiled, seeing Jig laying there, like some angel who snuck in when no one was looking. But, he quickly got over that and walked over to her bed. He lifted up the blanket, waking her.
"Ephram?" she asked too tired to be overly surprised, and too tired stop him from getting into the bed with her and laying down, covering himself with the blanket.
"It was your idea I sleep in that room," he told her, obviously not pleased with her for it. Her eyes slanted to look both tired and worried.
"Haven't you gotten any sleep?" she asked him.
"None."
"Oh poor baby," she said running her fingers down the side of his face. She then closed her eyes and went back to sleep.
For the most part, Ephram felt no anxiety about sleeping in the same bed with a girl. Mostly because this wasn't a girl, this was Jig. For some strange reason, the fact that he was a boy, and she was a girl, never affected either of them. Gender issues had never been made much of between them. Actually, the only things that Jig and other girls seemed to have in common only made themselves known somewhat recently, with him finding her bra and what he had evidently said to her the previous night. Even when she was dating his cousin, it had never occurred to him that Jig was, in fact, a girl. But now, as he watched her sleep, with her soft hair laying around her, a small smile on her face, a smooth white nightgown on, and being so close to her that he was surrounded by her warmth… she was still just Jig. It was weird. If Ephram had any normal instincts in him at all, he would wrap his arms around her and kiss her, but he felt no urge to. None at all. It frightened him, but at this time he was too tired to care, so he fell asleep.
When Andy woke up the next morning he found himself sprawled across the entire length of the bed. He sat up and looked over the sides of it, in case he had shoved Ephram off in the middle of the night. But, the malcontent teenager was no where to be seen.
"Ephram?" Andy asked, a little confused, but not worried.
Despite not falling asleep until four, Ephram woke up at nine. He felt warm, and soft. He smiled as he made sounds signifying that he was waking up. Ephram moved his head slightly and felt something brush against the left side of his face as he did so. He then look over to his left to find Jig's hand there, her fingers outstretching just enough to grace the side of his face if he moved slightly. His eyes then followed the arm draped across his chest and over to his right, where Jig lay asleep on her stomach, facing away from him. He sighed and lifted one of his hands and ran his finger on the back of her neck, which was visible as she laid there. Her shoulder blades contracted and she shot up quickly as the shiver ran all through her body. She now prompted herself up by her arms at full length. She looked over and down at Ephram who was smiling at her. It took her a few moments to remember what had happened five hours prior. She sat on her bed and looked at him.
"It's been so long since I've had a guy in my bed…" she told him. He laughed slightly.
"You make it sound so naughty," he told her. She rolled her eyes.
"Get off," she said and pushed him off her bed.
When Amy woke up that morning she groaned as she placed her back into the normal position it had moved out of during the night. Whoever invented the futon should die. Amy sighed as she straightened her shirt and pants that she knew would smell like lasagna for weeks. Bright was confined to a corner by Gino Chang himself after Bright and Gemma's date had gotten in a fight. Bright won, though, and he got Gemma back too. Gemma confined herself to Bright's corner. Her poor date had a split lip, so, in a way, it was good Gemma went back to Bright. She'd probably try to kiss his split lip, which would only hurt him worse. Amy's mom was on the phone frantically calling plow trucks and salting trucks and every snow removal vehicle known to man. That's what her mom did, while the actual Mayor was conveniently away at a meeting in Denver. As much as the Abbotts were meant to hate Mayor Quincampoix, they never could, at least, not completely. Whenever her mom did something like this, taking on his job, especially in emergencies like this, he gave her a huge raise, or a bonus. He never took advantage of her. But, she was still going to cream him at the next election.
